Famous Irish American Songs

When the Irish stepped off ships by the tens of thousands during the great waves of Irish immigration to America, they brought with them little more than the clothes on their backs, empty stomachs, and a special gift for song.  In fact, the Irish are known for their inspiring music perhaps as much as anything else.

For centuries, Irish songs have been the centerpiece of the traditional Gaelic social gathering, known as the ceili, where families entertain each other by playing Gaelic folk music and dancing.  As the Irish in America maintained these Irish musical traditions over the last couple of centuries, their great Irish music gradually trickled out of the Irish pubs and Irish dance halls to take hold in American popular culture.

Many Irish American songs were among the most popular of their day, and some are still sung today on St. Patrick’s Day or during Irish gatherings.  The following is a list of famous Irish American songs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  You can click on each to listen.

Famous Irish American Books

As hundreds of thousands of Irishmen flooded American cities in the mid-to-late 19th century, the Irish American experience rapidly penetrated wider pop culture.  With America becoming increasingly fascinated with the Irish, Irish Americans gradually assumed protagonist roles in popular fiction and spawned a whole new genre of historical writing.

The following is a list of famous Irish American books, including Irish American fiction, Irish American biographies, and Irish American history.  Each book features a prominent Irish American protagonist, examines the Irish American experience, or details some key aspect of Irish American history.  Included are a few books that are more Irish than American, but are an important part of the Irish American experience nonetheless.

Irish Ships to America: Famous Ships of Irish Immigrants

When we think of the great waves of Irish immigration to America and the million Irish immigrants who left their homeland for a new life in America, we can never forget the journey itself – and the vessels that made the journey possible.

For most Irish immigrants, the journey onboard their ships to America would be an experience they would never forget.  Traveling on a ship to America would be their final opportunity to quietly reflect upon the life they were leaving behind and ponder the new life awaiting them in America.  It would also be a struggle and sometimes end in tragedy.

Famous Irish Americans

The Irish who immigrated to America in the mid-19th century could never have imagined the impact they would make on American society.  Despite the fact that Irish immigrants would spend their first few decades in America mired in urban squalor with little opportunity for economic or political advancement, their Irish spirit never wavered.  In time, Irish Americans emerged from abject poverty and political estrangement to excel in nearly every walk of life.

As a result of their unabiding determination, Irish Americans have risen to fame in numerous occupations over the last century and a half.  You will find scores of famous Irish American politicians, Irish American actors, Irish American singers, Irish American athletes, Irish American writers, Irish American clergy, and even – although less proudly – Irish American gangsters.

The following is a list of select famous Irish Americans.  To see more famous Irish Americans, click on one of the categories listed above.

Famous Irish American Clergy

During the 19th century, Ireland had such an abundance of priests that Irish bishops directed thousands of seminary graduates to go into mission work, primarily to the United States.  Starting in the 1830s, a wave of Irish priests descended upon the Northeastern United States, and immigration of Irish priests continued through the great waves of Irish immigration over the next several decades.

By the end of the nineteenth century, Irish priests were the most common foreign-born priests in the U.S., with about 4,000 coming in the decades after 1840. By the mid-1800s, 59% of priests in the diocese of New York were Irish-born.  At the start of the twentieth century, 62% of American bishops were Irish-American, more than half of whom were Irish-born. By the 1940s and 1950s, 80% of the priests in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles were Irish-born.

The following is a list of famous Irish American priests, Irish American ministers, Irish American bishops and Irish American cardinals.